Two Sides of the Same Coin
by snakes and lions unite
Summary: AU, Harry has a twin, non-cliche. Harry the true BWL is slighly neglected, but only because of a misinterpered prophecy not the fame going to his parents heads, and the twins act like twins are supposed to... THEY DON'T HATE EACH OTHER! NOT SLASH
1. Prologue: Halloween

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I'm really, really tired of all the stories where the Potter twins hate each other, regardless of which one is the boy who lived. They're twins. I'm not saying all twins are like Fred and George, but my cousins are twins. They are the most important people in the world to each other, even if they don't finish each other's sentances.

**I'm listing Draco as the second character because he will be rather important as time goes on. However, there will be no slash.**

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**Prologue**

It was October 31, 1981 in Godric's Hollow. Voldemort was standing over the crib of two twin baby boys. The twins, Daniel and Harry, lay there watching him with their identical green eyes, not making any noise.

"One of you has the power to defeat me, I do not know which one, so you must both die. I would kill the eldest first, but since I can't tell you apart, that isn't possible." Voldemort laughed; his laughter high and cruel.

He pointed his wand to the boy on the left, who happened to be Harry, the younger son. "Adava Kevada"

Harry and Daniel hadn't understood exactly what this man wanted, but they had gotten the general idea that "bad man want to hurt us". When the blast of green light had come from Voldemorts wand, Daniel knew it was "bad" and tried to roll over, to get in between Harry and the light. Harry pushed him back, not wanting his twin to get hurt, but he wasn't fast or strong enough.

The green light hit directly between them causing the two boys to glow with a strange light. After a moment the glow faded, to be followed by a green beam of light shooting straight at the bewildered Dark Lord. The second the light hit the Voldemort, he dissolved into dust.

Harry and Daniel looked at the place where the man had just been standing with mild confusion, but the bad man was the least of their concerns right now. From the moment the curse had hit them both, they felt the strange sensation of knowing exactly what the other was thinking and feeling. They both gurgled happily. Now they would always know that the other one was alright, so they wouldn't have to cry to let the other know where they were whenever mommy and daddy tried to put them apart.

Daniel stopped gurgling. Harry was hurt! Daniel was hurt too, but he was more worried about his brother then himself. On his brothers forehead was a red lightning shaped scar, and it was making Harry hurt. He rubbed his hand against the scar, wanting the stupid thing that was making his brother hurt to GO AWAY. Daniel was pleasantly surprised when the scar faded into nothingness, not knowing that he had not done Harry any favors by removing the scar.

Harry smiled at his brother for making the pain go bye-bye, but then felt bad, because his brother made his hurt go away, and he hadn't done anything to help his brother. He rubbed his hand on Daniels forehead, but nothing happened. He couldn't make the white glow come out of his hand. He scrunched up his face and started to cry. He cried both because be wanted to make his brother better and he couldn't and because maybe mommy and daddy would hear.

….

Lily and James were surprisingly alive. Voldemort had stunned them both, not wanting to risk either one of them using any type of sacrificial magic. He didn't believe in the strength of love, but he wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong when killing the one who could one day be strong enough to defeat him. Voldemort had planned on killing them after he had killed the boys. The looks on their faces when they realized the wizarding world had no hope left was well worth the annoyance of having to wait.

…

The spell faded as the Voldemort's spirit left his body, but they were disoriented and uncertain of what to do until one of their babies started crying. They both ran upstairs, unsure of what they would find, but expecting the worst, since Voldemort was the last thing they remembered

They were beyond shocked when they walked into the room only to find two healthy babies and a room tingling with powerful magic and the remnants of a killing curse.

They examined their precious infants, and were at the same time pleased and disappointed when they saw the scar on David's head.

James held Daniel up and spoke. "Our little Daniel is the Chosen One, just as the prophecy said. You, little tyke, are going to be the most famous boy in the entire world."

"James, what about Harry. If the first part of the prophecy came true, what about the rest of it? I can't punish Harry for a decision he hasn't made yet."

"But he will turn dark. The first part of the prophecy was right. An baby defeating Voldemort was a lot less likely to happen than for a boy to grow dark and betray his brother." James said sadly, sounding resigned to the inevitable.

"We won't treat Harry and different than Daniel until he shows signs of being dark, I don't care what Dumbledore says, about it being inevitable, and him corrupting Daniel. He's already been pressuring me to keep them apart, since Daniel is the eldest, but now he will be even more stubborn." Lily said defiantly, her voice full of concern and love for both of her children.

"Of course love. Until Harry grows dark we'll treat them both the same way."

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**I can't make any promises about when I'll update... this was a random burst of inspiration that I will follow through on, but I can't make any promises about updates.**

**If you review and let me know you like this story, the updates will come faster.**

**And, the twins weren't thinking in coherent sentances - it was the general emotions they were feeling. **


	2. Chapter 1: Birthday Revelations

**A/N: Thank you for reviewing**

**RemusheartsTonks  
CrayonsPink  
panther73110**

**Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling... I'm pretty sure all of you are intelligent enough to figure that out without me telling you.**

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**Birthday Revelations**

Harry and Daniel both remembered that Halloween with perfect clarity, from the moment the curse hit. To them it was the most obvious thing in the world that they did it together, and even if the curse had hit just Daniel, they would have both believed that they that they did it together. Even before the magic had let them share each others thoughts they knew they couldn't have done it without each other.

After that Halloween night the bond that had been created by the green light gradually weakened, until they could only share thoughts or feelings intentionally, and it tired them out.

This let them begin to develop their own personalities.

Daniel was loud and happy and outgoing, his father's soon through and through. He loved the noisy enthusiasm his godfather Uncle Sirius had, and Uncle Sirius was his favorite person to be with in the whole world, besides Harry. For the longest time he didn't notice that his father and uncle thought he was more special than Harry.

He simply assumed that was because Uncle Sirius was his godfather, and dad was more like Uncle Sirius that like Uncle Remus, who was Harry's godfather.

It seemed right, that he was Uncle Sirius's and dad's favorite, while Harry was Uncle Remus's and mum's favorite. That's who they had the most in common with.

Harry was more observant than his brother, less open and enthusiastic. He realized that no one knew what had happened that night, besides him and his brother. He wanted to keep it that way, because of his parents parting sentence that night, about a prophecy and darkness, made him wary and he wanted to stay silent and pretend to be perfectly ordinary until he understood what that was all about.

He was always watching other people, trying to understand what they did and most importantly, why they did it. He knew his mum loved them both exactly equally, but spent more time with him so he wouldn't have less attention than his brother.

Harry knew Uncle Remus was still upset that dad and Uncle Sirius had thought he was the spy, hadn't told him who the Secret Keeper was (Harry still didn't know exactly what that was about, but he was sure to figure it out sooner or later), and only Lily had apologized to him right away for not believing him.

Dad and Uncle Sirius really were sorry, the same way they really did love him, even if it wasn't as much as his brother. They just didn't think things through and got distracted really easily, the same way Daniel did. That's why he was there for his brother the same way him mum was there for his dad, and Uncle Remus was there for Uncle Sirius.

Only he wouldn't back down as easily as Uncle Remus or even mum did, and he had been teaching his brother from the very beginning that even if Daniel couldn't see it, there was always a good reason for everything asked. In return for occasional unquestioning obedience, Harry did what his brother wanted the rest of the time.

…

It was their 7th birthday when Daniel finally asked Lily why Harry wasn't getting any of the small presents people were sending in from around the country. Of course they shared everything anyway, but it seemed a bit rude for the people to address the gifts to only one twin. He also didn't understand why his mum didn't get irritated at other people's thoughtlessness and give half the presents to Harry anyway.

He had noticed that already last year, and the year before, but he didn't want to say anything. Harry was the one who usually brought up things like that.

"Mum, why doesn't Harry get any of the presents?"

Lily sighed… James kept hinting at the fact that Daniel was special because of his scar and something that happened when they were younger, despite her insistence on not telling them. She wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse that neither one of the twins seemed to understand.

But since Daniel had asked her outright, she didn't want to refuse to answer, especially since by now they were old enough to

She sat next to Daniel on the carpet, while Harry sat in the corner, pretending to be completely absorbed in a toy wand that made bubbles.

"You know there once was a very bad man called You-Know-Who, right honey?" she asked him gently.

Daniel nodded. Something about his connection with Harry made both of them learn faster and have better memories then other children their age. At least that's what Harry said, but he couldn't be sure, since the only other child their age that they met was Neville, and he was scared of almost everything, and really clumsy too.

Harry said that was because his parents had been hurt really, really bad, until they went crazy, and his Grandmother was really strict and kept getting disappointed in him whenever he did something wrong.

Daniel thought Harry was brilliant whenever he did stuff like that, when he knew stuff that nobody had told them.

That knowledge kept him from getting annoyed when mum and dad used small words and simple sentences to explain things.

They didn't think he was stupid, they just thought he was young. Daniel wanted to tell them how smart he and Harry were, but Harry didn't want to. Harry always did whatever Daniel wanted, except for the times Harry insisted on not telling their parents things, and stuff like that.

He liked choosing what games to play more than he cared if his parents thought he was a little dumber than he was, so he went along with it. Besides, Harry spent a lot of time watching people, so he knew better what to tell them and what not to tell them.

"You remember that this bad man is gone now?"

Daniel nodded again, trying to follow where this was going. He understood the bit about a bad man being gone. He had even made the connection between You-Know-Who and the man with the red eyes and the flashy green light. What he didn't understand was how this connected to people sending him presents and not Harry. Unless they felt bad for him, because he had a scar but Harry didn't.

Even though that wasn't really fair, since his scar didn't hurt anymore, and it was really neat looking, and it wasn't like Harry hadn't tried to get rid of his. If anything, people should be sending Harry presents, since Daniel could heal things and Harry couldn't, even if he couldn't do more than simple cuts and bruises anymore. Of course, nobody knew that, since Daniel's healing gift was one of those things Harry wanted to keep secret.

"When you were a baby, this bad man came here and tried to hurt you. He sent a bad spell at you, but you bounced it back at him, and now he's gone and can't hurt people anymore. So that why everyone sends you presents. Because they're happy that they don't need to be afraid of getting hurt anymore. And that's also where your scar is from, the bad spell that the man tried to hurt you with."

Daniel nodded for a final time, before jumping up to go and talk to Harry.

He finally figured out that because Harry didn't have a scar, everyone thought he hadn't done anything. He supposed that they couldn't possibly know what happened, but it seemed so obvious to him that he and Harry had to have done it together, that it hadn't occurred to him that they didn't know that.

…

Harry interrupted whatever his brother had to say with, "Do you want the bubble wand back or do you want to play something else?" while reminding him with the mental comment, _Wait until mum's out of the room._

Daniel took the wand as Lily left.

"Mum and dad and everyone else think that I'm the only one that did anything when the red-eyed man hit you with the green light. Did you know that?"

Daniel said this with his usual level of bounciness waving the bubble wand around cheerfully.

"I knew that." Harry said shortly, looking around for more unopened presents. He liked opening presents more than playing with them. He spent almost 10 minutes opening each one, testing them so by the time all the wrapping paper came off; he knew exactly what it was.

That revelation seemed to stump Daniel for a moment. After thinking for a few seconds he asked, "Why didn't you ever tell me? Then we could go and tell mum and dad they made a mistake. Maybe we'd get twice as many presents then."

Harry sighed. "Do you remember what mum and dad were talking about, the night we got hit by the curse?"

"Of course I remember! You're the one who keeps going on and on and on about how good our memories are and that we're really, really special 'cause we remember everything we hear or read, and we have a photographic memory and everything. What, did you forget?" Daniel asked jokingly.

"If you remember what they said, why don't you try and figure out what it means?"

Harry wasn't mad at his twin; he was just worried about what his parents had meant. Daniel knew that as well as he did.

Daniel thought for a minute, thinking hard. "A prophecy is when someone tells the future right? Like in Divination?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, trying not to let his nervousness show on his face. He often thought about that night, and it was his worst fear that Daniel would be afraid of him or stop trusting him. He knew it wasn't reasonable, that nothing in the world could separate the two of them, that they couldn't exist without each other, but still, he couldn't help being afraid.

"The whole thing is obviously wrong… you're the one that defeated Voldemort, if you have to look at it as something only one of us did –" Daniel gasped, his eyes wide, "You don't think I'm going to betray you – do you? I swear, I'd rather die than betray you, you know that –"

Harry just gaped at Daniel, shocked at the unexpected response. That thought hadn't crossed his mind, that Daniel might be the one to betray him. The magnitude of impossibility of that happening was one that he couldn't begin to describe. If someone had asked him if he trusted Daniel with his life, the amount of time it would take him to answer would be the amount of time it took him to recover from such a ridiculous question.

After a moment of thought, Harry realized that the thought of him betraying Daniel must seem as ridiculous to Daniel as the thought of Daniel betraying him seemed to him.

"Of course I trust you! I was afraid you wouldn't trust me. I'd trust you with my life in a second." Harry rapidly comforted Daniel.

After a few minutes of talking and explanation, Daniel proclaimed. "No matter what happens let's swear that we will always trust each other. Even if our parents and uncles and Neville and everyone else tell me not to trust you or you not to trust me."

Harry nodded. "We're like two sides of the same coin. Just because we're different doesn't mean we can exist without each other."

They didn't know how soon they would have to put those words to the test.

**Review!! And if you have any questions, please ask.**

**Posted a few hours after the original chapter was posted - **

- **yeah, you're probably right... **

**In order to make the chapter more realistic I bumped the birthday up to 6 years old, and if Harry and Daniel seem unbelievbly mature in some ways, but incredibly naive in others, blame that on the fact that they're living in almost total isolation for security purposes, but have increased learning speed and retention due to the bond that they share "two minds are better than one". If it seems unrealistic that they've gone this long without figuring out that Daniel is famous, it's because Lily forbid anyone from telling them. And they've only met like eight people in their entire lives anyway...**

**Posted after chapter three...**

**I bumped the birthday up another year, because I realized I didn't need quite as much time as I thought I did. ****So... now they're seven. **


	3. Chapter 2: Prophecies

**A/N**

**Sorry for taking so long, but chapter 7 of my other story just killed me... and I did tell you that this is only my second priority.  
The chapter is pretty short, but I just wanted to get something up. My next chapter should come pretty quickly since Mirror Image is coming along easier now.  
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially Gika Black, who reminded me that people are still reading this story...**

**Chapter 2 - Prophecies**

The next year passed like all the others before it for Harry and Daniel.

They spent most of it at the Potter manor, same as always.

Daniel had asked Sirius, during one of his rapidly becoming more frequent arguments demanding that he be allowed to go off the manor grounds, why everyone was so sure the house was safe.

The resulting explanation finally filled in all the gaps Harry had in his knowledge about what a Secret Keeper was, and some reading between the lines allowed him to find out exactly why Voldemort had managed to find Godric's Hollow.

He couldn't believe that his parents and Sirius hadn't trusted Remus, at least until he figured out that Mooney was a werewolf. After that, he couldn't exactly say that he understood (Remus being a werewolf didn't matter in the slightest for Harry, he was still Uncle Mooney), but the reasoning behind suspecting Remus to be the traitor made _slightly _more sense. And now Remus's nickname "Mooney" also made sense. They had known about their dad's and Sirius's Animagus forms for years, but couldn't ever get anyone to talk about Mooney.

…

James had been working as an Auror for as long as Daniel and Harry could remember… that was nothing unusual, except that he had gotten another promotion, to second-in-command of the Auror department.

What was unusual was that this year, Lily had returned to her job, also as an Auror. It was only part time, but being home alone was something that Harry and Daniel were very excited over.

Not that they were alone, exactly, The Potters had a half a dozen house elves, and it wasn't like they could go anywhere. They had monitoring spells on them that would notify Lily and James if they ever tried to sneak off. They had tried once, when they were five. That had probably been the biggest scolding they had ever gotten in their entire lives.

In general they maintained the appearance of being well behaved, especially Harry. While he enjoyed pranking as much as his brother, his first, second, and last thought when coming up with a prank was, "Don't get caught."

Harry had a perfect record. Never, in all the times he had swapped his parents and uncles wands, switched the sugar with salt, put multicolor hair dyes in the shampoo, and itching powder in the soap, had anyone even suspected him. Of course, being able to keep a straight face was probably helpful as well. And not dropping subtle hints.

When Daniel asked "What's wrong, Uncle Padfoot? Did you put something in the tea?" in a singsong voice, and giggled, his guilt was assumed. Even though half the time it was Harry's prank.

Padfoot and Prongs always showered Daniel in attention after pranks; more so than usual, and got him extra presents whenever there was a particularly clever prank.

Harry never ever found any of the pranks particularly impressive, but he supposed that without magic even Marauders would have been hard pressed to do better.

Harry didn't mind that he didn't get any credit.

Lily never approved of the pranks, and while Remus always praised Daniel for his inventiveness and creativity, it was usually accompanied by a lecture about taking things too far.

That way they both got the approval of the people whose opinion mattered the most to them.

It was part of Harry's plan to make sure he and his brother weren't seen as too close, a plan that had started shortly before their eighth birthday. He was glad that they had gotten the prophecy out in the open between them; it prevented any uncertainty or suspicion.

They both knew exactly where they stood. With each other. Against the world, if they had to. Forever.

Considering the conversation they had overheard that had prompted them to make that decision, it wouldn't be too unlikely.

…

"Damn that interfering man! James, tell me, have you seen one time, one single time, when Harry has shown a single trait of being dark! How dare he try to warn us to keep are children apart, before "Daniel grows to trust Harry too much, and is damaged by the inevitable betrayal", who does he think he is!"

It was well after the time that Daniel and Harry were supposed to be in bed. They had snuck out of their rooms, because even Daniel had noticed how strangely their mum had been acting all day, and they both wanted to find out what was going on.

"Lily, when you first insisted on taking the twins to Potter Manor and hiding them under the Fidelus again, I couldn't understand why. I also doubted your judgment about not only letting Harry and Daniel grow up together, but refusing to separate them or treat them differently in any way. I believed in the prophecy, initially. It was so obvious, so clearly stated, the believable part of an impossible statement. If one part came to pass, how could the other not?

I'm still not convinced it won't happen, but if we had attempted to punish Harry for a crime he hadn't yet committed, that would make us barley better than the Death Eaters. And Lily, I agree with you for now. But if Harry does show signs of going dark, we need to start separating them."

James clearly was trying to be comforting, but Lily wasn't appeased.

She drew a shuddering breath.

"Still? After all this time, you would be willing to abandon Harry if he so much as puts a toe out of line? I can see how much you favor Daniel, you and Sirius both. If you could you would gladly tell him stories of how famous he is, and what a wonderful wizard he is, while forcing Harry to look on and watch."

James sighed.

"I believe in the end, that Harry will abandon us. The prophecy was clear. Much as I want it, need it, to be different, I don't think I could stand it if I invested as much of myself into Harry as I do into Daniel and he betrayed us. It would be even worse than what Peter did, and I couldn't even think straight for months after that. I still haven't gotten over his betrayal.

Lily, think about what it would feel like if Harry abandoned this family, left us for the darkness. You favor Harry as much as I favor Daniel. I know it is only so he has his fair share of attention, but still think about how heartbroken you would be. How much clearer does it need to get?"

_The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches  
__Born as the seventh month dies_

_Two paths; two destinies  
__A decision once made cannot be unmade_

_The light shall destroy the house of the snake  
__The dark shall rise it glory_

_The eldest, the light twin; lion born and bred  
__The youngest, the dark twin; heir to the snake_

_The world will see the betrayal  
__But the youngest must have his trust unbroken_

_If all unite against the dark one  
__The light shall have the victory it desires_

_The power that the Dark Lord knows not shall be his downfall  
__But the snake speaker may yet save the dark from defeat_

_But Beware: the snake speaks in riddles, the Riddle a snake_

If that is not a clear prophecy, than what is?"

"James, prophecies aren't supposed to be clear and straightforward; that alone is enough to make me distrust it. They always end up meaning something other than what is expected. And that one has so many points where it could mean something different than what you think it means. And he is your _son. _For all that I give more attention to Harry, I love them both equally. For all their differences, sometimes they are so similar that sometimes it's hard to tell them apart."

A sigh. It was hard to tell whose.

"Lily, let's not argue about this. Send an answer back to Dumbledore telling him that you appreciate his advice, but that you will continue as you have for the past several years, and until Harry does something, you will continue to do so. We can worry about the rest later."

A chair shifted.

Harry and Daniel didn't wait to hear the rest; they ran up the stair to their rooms as quickly as possible.

**Review! **

**If this gets a lot of reviews, like ten or fifteen, than I'll work on this story more... especially since I'm a little ahead with Mirror Image now. **


	4. Chapter 3: Another Birthday

**A/N**

**Bleh... I got the ten reviews I wanted... but I still didn't update. Sorry... I sent two or three of the first people that reviewed a reply that said I wouldn't be posting during November, becasue of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Monh). But that wasn't entirely true, since I told them that I was going to use story for that, so then there would be more frequent updates... but then I changed my mind and did an original story... so I still won't be updating that frequently. But I'm going to try harder I promise**

**Chapter 3 - Another Birthday**

"Harry, Harry, guess what?" Daniel shouted from the second floor as he started running down the stairs.

Harry didn't have a chance to ask "what?"

Three stairs from the top, Daniel somehow tripped – while running at full speed.

He flew headlong down the stairs, as Harry stood at the bottom. Harry didn't even need to consider what to do before reacting. He rushed up the stairs, hoping to reach Daniel in time to cushion the blow.

He did reach Daniel before he hit the stairs – but Daniel's momentum continued carrying the two of them down.

They tumbled down the stairs together, and when they reached the bottom, there was an audible crack. Harry was uninjured, so he looked to Daniel for the source of the noise.

Daniel was clutching his wrist, with an expression of excruciating pain on his face, looking like he was about to cry.

Harry knew that he should try to comfort Daniel, but he the words that came out of his mouth were a shout.

He had thought his heart had stopped when Daniel had tripped. He would never forget the last time Daniel had fallen down the stairs, barely half a year ago.

Harry had been in the library, a few rooms away from the stairs that Daniel fell down. He had known something had happened immediately – he had felt a surge of panic – and then nothing. There was no sign of Daniel in his head. Harry had rushed out of the library, trying to find Daniel without their bond, which had gone silent. He got to the stairs before his parents did, who had heard the crash.

Daniel had managed to hit his head somehow and was unconscious. James, who had arrived just after Harry had, saw Harry leaning over Daniel, and arrived at the conclusion that Harry had something to do with Daniels condition.

Harry had overreacted at the accusation, spitting various insults at James, and demonstrating knowledge of several things he wasn't supposed to know. He still wasn't quite sure what he said, but he knew it had something to do with Pettigrew and Remus - blaming James for the betrayal of one and mocking his distrust of the other.

Normally he wouldn't have reacted that way – but Daniel was unconscious, and he was so panicked that he could barely think in coherent sentences, much less be reasonable.

The resulting argument that had followed, probably had removed any remaining doubts that James might have had about Harry being dark.

It was lucky that Lily had come in before he could say completely irreversible.

So even though he was exceedingly concerned about his brother's broken wrist, he still started yelling, more out of fear that something would happen to his brother if he continued being reckless then anything else.

"You idiot – can't you think for one second. Just one second. That's all I'm asking. But no, can't stop at all, running down stairs at full speed. Moron. Stupid."

Before Daniel could respond, James entered the room, just as Harry was insulting Daniel. He took one look at them, out of breath on the bottom of the stairs, with Daniel clearly in pain, and his gaze grew cold. He looked at Harry with an expression of accusation, though he said nothing, not after the chewing out Lily had given him last time.

"I hope you haven't been fighting again," he said, clearly trying hard to keep his voice level and non-accusing.

Daniel looked up sheepishly, "I, um, kinda fell down the stairs."

James looked disbelieving and shot Harry a look that clearly stated "I know you did this".

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking at Daniel with concern.

"I'm fine," Daniel replied. He wasn't lying – Harry could tell that he was in less pain already, though he guessed that the arm wasn't entirely healed. Daniel's healing ability came in handy often, especially considering how often Daniel managed to injure himself. In the past year or so, it had grown stronger again, though their bond hadn't - this was the first time that Daniel had healed a broken bone in a long time.

James stalked off without another word.

Daniel started talking in a rush, the second he was sure that James was out of earshot.

"I'm really sorry. I'm stupid – I should think before acting. I've gotten in you trouble all over again, and I could have really hurt you falling down the stairs."

Daniel looked like he was about to cry, even more so then earlier with his broken wrist.

Harry briefly considered letting Daniel suffer a little longer, but he couldn't.

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it." He smiled briefly. "How much do you want to bet you're going to spend half the evening with dad, repeating, 'yes, I'm sure that Harry had nothing to do with it'?"

Daniel groaned.

"Maybe he'll be convinced easier this time. Last time, he was sure that when I hit my head I had suffered some sort of memory loss."

Harry grinned, flippantly, unconcerned that his father thought he wanted to kill, or at least injure, his twin. He had gotten used to it a while ago. He'd had a solid year to dwell on the prophecy by now.

"Want me to go tearfully tell mum that you tripped and fell down the stairs again, and that dad's convinced it was me, _again_? I can start sobbing about how 'dad doesn't love me – he hates me I know he does, I can tell every time he looks at me.' Which isn't even a lie…"

Daniel sighed, "No, I don't want another fight. Mum and dad, they really love each other. It's the stupid prophecy that's making everything wrong."

Harry didn't want to give up on a chance to stir up something interesting. "How about you tell him that I really did push you off the stairs – and then I tell mum that I really hate you, and hate everyone, and my secret desire is to take over the world – and to join Voldemort."

Daniel looked vaguely horrified. "Why would you want to say that?"

"I donno… it'd be interesting. And I want to see what they would do. I mean, I don't think they would try to kill me, would they? Not even dad would, really. He wants me kept away from you, but he doesn't hate me enough to kill me, even if I really did want to kill you.

But then, what else could they do? If they were sure that my deepest desire is to see you dead and that I would do anything to make it happen. Can you get arrested for something you might do in the future?"

Daniel shuddered, "Don't say stuff like that."

But Harry persisted, "No, I'm being serious now. I've been thinking about the prophecy a lot, and it still makes sense, even assuming that I will never betray you."

Daniel nodded, not any dumber than Harry, "Yeah, I know, the line, 'the world will see the betrayal'. You have to pretend to betray me. But, Harry, that would just kill mum. And doubt even dad would be pleased to be right – not with how broken up mum would be."

Harry shrugged, looking away. He sighed, "I know… But it's the only thing that makes sense. And you have to admit it would be perfect, for the two of us, assuming that what we've been guessing at is true – especially if it Voldemort again."

They were assuming that either Voldemort was alive somewhere, or a new Dark Lord was going to rise up and take his place – that was the only way the prophecy made sense. And Voldemort had to know about the prophecy, based on what he had said before he tried to kill them.

"Yeah, but if it's Voldemort again, he's going to remember that the curse hit both of us." Daniel protested.

Harry shook his head, "So? I doubt his memory is going to be perfectly clear about what happened. And he's not going to assume that the curse hit both of us at the same time – why would he, that's never happened before. So he's going to believe the same thing as everyone else. The curse was a little closer to you; therefore you got hit by it."

Daniel looked like he wanted to argue about it, but then his face lit up.

"Hey, I forgot to tell you what I nearly killed myself going down the stair for. You'll never believe what mum just told me!"

"What was it?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"You know how we and Neville have almost the exact same birthday?"

Harry nodded.

"We get to celebrate our birthdays together this year! Can you believe it?"

Harry grinned. "That's totally brilliant! We're finally going to have another kid at our birthday party."

Birthday parties were mostly family affairs – the four Potters, Sirius, and Remus.

Then he paused. "Is his grandmother coming?"

Neville's grandmother was horrible. Even the way James treated Harry had nothing on the way Neville's grandmother treated him. She constantly praised both Daniel and Harry, but constantly told Neville how clumsy and stupid he was, and how his father would be disappointed in him.

She didn't tell him that so bluntly in front of Lily and James, of course, though they knew that she wasn't especially pleased with Neville.

But Harry had managed to worm the story out of him, bit by bit. Harry was good at things like that.

Daniel nodded. "She's coming."

"Can't have everything, I suppose."

…

Neville was staring, rather wide-eyed, at all the present. He was holding one rather uncertainly.

The three children had been left alone to unwrap the presents, on the assumption that by age nine, they were capable of opening presents on their own. And the presents had been scanned for anything harmful.

"Oh, come on, open it already." Daniel urged impatiently. "I want to know what it is."

"But, but, it's not mine – it's your present." Neville said uncertainly, "I've never _seen_ this many presents in my life."

Harry responded flippantly, "Oh, come on, you know about how he's famous and all that. We get so many presents every year I don't even know why we bother opening them. That's a package of chocolate frogs by the way."

Daniel whacked him with one of the larger, softer presents, which was still wrapped.

"I told you! No revealing what the presents are until we've opened them."

Harry laughed. "Sorry – I forgot."

He added mischievously, "That doesn't mean you're allowed to whack me with giant teddy bears. You'd think that now that we're nine, they'd have stopped sending them."

"HEY!" Daniel proceeded to hit Harry some more, while Harry grabbed another present – a toy broomstick that was already unwrapped– and proceeded to block the blows.

Eventually, they tired out, still laughing.

Harry turned to Neville, who was still holding the present.

"Just open it already." Harry commanded, growing impatient.

Neville finally unwrapped it, trying to be careful at taking off the wrapping paper. Harry had been right – chocolate frogs it was.

Harry grabbed the box from Neville – judging by how long it took him to unwrap it, if they wanted him to open the box, it would take the rest of the year.

He hastily opened it, and handed a chocolate frog to both Neville and Daniel.

Daniel shoved his into his mouth quickly, but Neville stared at his.

"Th-thank you," he stammered uncertainly. Before he could eat it, the frog jumped out of his hands.

He lurched unsteadily to his feet, trying to catch it. He had barely taken half a dozen steps in pursuit of the frog before his foot caught on one of the many presents lying on the floor.

He fell, and there was the sound of glass shattering. Whatever Neville had landed on had been made out of glass.

Harry reacted the quickest, jumping to his feet and helping Neville up.

"Are you bleeding?" he asked, examining Neville for any obvious damage.

"N-no." Neville stuttered, even worse than before. "I'm s-sorry. Th-the thing I broke was pr-probably v-valuable."

Having gotten Neville to his feet, Harry leaned over and opened the package to see what Neville had broken. "Silverware? And I thought that we had gotten every type of crazy gift imaginable already. What on earth would we want with silverware?"

At that moment, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Neville's grandmother entered the room, in that order.

Despite being the last one in the room, Neville's grandmother, her horrible vulture had still on her head, spoke first.

"You clumsy, foolish boy. The Potter's were kind enough to invite you to celebrate their sons' birthday, and this is what you do – break expensive gifts? I knew I shouldn't have let you come. Neville, come, we're going home now."

She turned to go, and then said the final cutting words, "Frank would have never behaved as disgracefully as this."

* * *

**Mostly just filler, I guess. To show how things are progressing. Something is actually going to happen next chapter though...**

**To explain Daniel's healing ability - it was very, very strong initially... strong enough to heal a curse scar that couldn't be removed. But then, the magical afteraffects faded, and his ability diminished. Now its growing stronger again, because he's getting a stronger grip on his magic. **

**Since Madam Pomfrey can heal broken bones in a second, it's not going to be some amazing cure-all magical ability, though it will grow stronger. In the wizarding world, broken bones aren't much of an injury or at least that's my opinion. **

**I know that I'm making Daniel seem less intelligent than Harry - he's not, not really. He'll shine later on, I promise. Their abilities and intelligence are around equal.**

**Also, Daniel's personality is closer to cannon Harry then my Harry is. I know that, but I've never seen a Harry has a twin done where Harry was commonly regarded as the boy-who-lived, and it was his twin who was suspected/neglected. So I decided to stick with the common usage for that - I couldn't quite picture it the other way around. **

**If you have any questions or criticisms, feel free to ask and/or comment. **

**Just to clear up the ages a little, since I keep changing them, I bumped everything forward, since I decided not to go with something extra I wanted to do before Hogwarts, so I really didn't need all the spare years that I was building. **

**Chapter 1, the first birthday, went from four to six, and now its at seven. Chapter 2, the chapter before this, was when they were just about eight. Now (as you should have noticed from the story) they're nine. **

**Now review! Please! **

**I don't feel I can promise that if I get more review's I'll update sooner, since it didn't work out last time, but I'm going to really, really try. Reviews are wonderful motivators. **


	5. Chapter 4: Plans to be Made

**A/N: I must apoligize for how long it's been, yet again. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I know it's short, but I've got to give you something...**

**Chapter 4: Plans to Be Made**

Daniel inched open the door to Harry's room, trying not to make noise just in case he was wrong and Harry was asleep.

But his ability to sense what Harry was feeling hadn't failed him yet.

Harry was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall. He smiled wearily at Daniel when he came in.

"You can't sleep either?" Daniel asked. He sat down on the bed next to Harry.

"No." Harry replied rather shortly. They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Daniel spoke again.

"What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

Daniel didn't bother to reply. He just sat there waiting for Harry's answer.

"We're going off to Hogwarts in less than a week."

Daniel couldn't help it. He blurted out – "We've been waiting for that for _years!_ You've wanted to go just as bad as I have! You ought to be excited, not worried!"

Harry sighed. "I've been thinking about Hogwarts a lot – Hogwarts, and the prophecy, and the Death Eaters… I've known what I have to do for a while, but I keep trying to put it off. Hogwarts is a deadline that I can't avoid."

The sentence didn't make sense to Daniel right away, but after a moment of thought the pieces came together.

"You're going to try to get into Slytherin, aren't you? And break off ties with mum and dad and everyone? So that the pieces of the prophecy fall into place?"

"You know I have too – you know how paranoid Mum and Dad are about letting us go anywhere. They're not stupid. They wouldn't protect us so insistently if there weren't really people out there who have it in for us – for you.

"I'm willing to believe that they've been a little overprotective. Like the fact that the first time we were allowed off the manor grounds was when we were nine, the only person our own age we know well is Neville and when we went to get our school supplies in Diagon Alley, we weren't allowed out of sight by Mum, Dad, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Remus, while other children went around all by themselves."

Daniel felt the need to defend his parents. "We should have been allowed a little more freedom outside the house, but we weren't really that badly off – a lot of pureblood children don't spend too much time outside of the house, since they're all pretty much homeschooled. There is no wizarding elementary school like the muggles have.

Harry waved that off. "I know that – I realize that they only have our best intrests at heart, and so on… My point is that there are plenty of Death Eaters that didn't get sent to Azkaban, and they are going to be after you."

Daniel knew his brother, knew that Harry had made up his mind, and that he didn't need the line _a decision once made cannot be unmade _to figure out that Harry would do whatever he had decided.

But he had to protest, if only because he knew that Harry was doing it for him – Harry would give up everything he had ever known if he thought it would make Daniel safer.

"Even if you're sorted into Slytherin, it won't stop Mum. She's argued with Dad before, about house prejudices. She won't believe you're evil, just because of that."

Harry put his face in his hands and said, "I know, I know. That's the whole problem… I can't figure out a way to make her stop believing in me – and if I have to do this, I want it to be a clean break. I don't want her to second guess herself, about what she could have done, and what she should have done. I don't want her to spend the rest of her life trying to figure out a way to make me come home. And knowing how much she believes in me, I can't figure out a way to do that."

"So tell her." The solution was so obvious to Daniel that he didn't understand how Harry wasn't seeing it. "Tell her what you want to do – to get sorted into Slytherin to be able to spy on the Death Eaters, and to be able to better protect me."

Harry snorted. "First off – do you really think she'll let me, just like that? She's one of the most overprotective parents in the world – she'll never let me intentionally place myself in the path of danger. Second – this has to be secret, completely secret. You I have to tell, obviously, but anyone else, that just makes it more dangerous."

Daniel shook his head – "No, you have to tell her. Otherwise, there's no way you'll be allowed out of the house over Christmas or the summer break. Even if they believe you're evil, they'll still try to keep you here, to prevent you from getting into more trouble."

"So? She's not any more likely to let me go anywhere if I tell her of my secret plan to infiltrate Death Eater ranks and spy on them, is she?"

"Of course she will!"

Harry blinked a few times. "Um. What? Do you really think that mum will let me go spy on Death Eaters, or did you mean something else? Because either way, I have no idea what you mean."

Daniel rolled his eyes, savoring his brother's confusion. Normally he was the one who couldn't follow his brother's train of thought.

"She'll let you go, because she knows the prophecy is most likely true, but she wants it to mean something other then the immediately obvious. She won't stop you - if she tries tell her "_A decision once made cannot be unmade" _and she'll know that the line "_The world will see the betrayal" _means she can't tell anyone. It's pretty obvious once you think about it – mum is too busy denying it to think about what else it could mean, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus don't know the actual words, and dad just believes whatever Dumbledore says."

Harry thought that over for a few seconds. When he looked up again, Daniel knew he was convinced. Being Harry though, he had to have the last words.

"And what's wrong with Dumbledore then, that he can't see what a pair of ten year olds can – actually, eight year olds, but that was more on faith then anything else."

Daniel laughed, realizing something wrong with Harry's question. "Eleven year olds actually… I can't believe I'm putting my life in your hands… you don't even know how old you are. Remember, we had one of those little things called a birthday, and that made us grow _older_. So before we were ten, and now we're eleven… get it?"

Harry threw a pillow at Daniel as his only response. Daniel jumped off the bed and started heading out of the room, before Harry could grab another pillow.

"You still haven't answered my question!" was the last thing Daniel heard before he left Harry's room. He smiled to himself. Everything was going to work out – and even if it didn't at least his headache was finally gone. Maybe he could get some sleep at last.

**

* * *

**

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especailly to those whom I failed to respond to in a reply... sorry! If you review again, I'll be sure to reply this time.

Next chapter WILL be up sooner.


	6. Chapter 5: Saying Goodbye

**A/N: If I was really JK I could probably keep the danm characters in character...**

**Chapter 5: Saying Goodbye**

Daniel's hand curled around his as the disoriented feeling of Side-Along Apparition faded. Harry wanted to say that they were more than just a little old for that, but he didn't, he just tightened his grip.

All he could do was gawk at the crowded station, wizards and witches running to and fro. He had never seen so many people all in one place – even when they had gone to Diagon Alley, they hadn't done all their school shopping, only wands.

It's not like he didn't know that there were this many people – he'd read books, of course. And he knew that the population of the muggle world was larger by far than that of the magical one.

But reading it was different then seeing it in person. And seeing it in person made him feel _small._

Despite that, he released his brother's hand – or perhaps Daniel released his hand. As with many things in their lives, they had reached a decision simultaneously.

It dawned on Harry as he looked around just how poorly thought out his parents decision had been, to keep them hidden away all the time. Maybe it protected them from the overwhelmingness of their fame. Maybe it prevented Death Eaters from attacking them. But in the end, it had been too much protection – far, far, far too much protection.

The thought of being with so many people whom he didn't know terrified him, far more then the thought that if everything went according to plan, he would never talk in a friendly to his father, godfather, or even his uncle again.

That thought came to the forefront of his mind. This would be the last time he would be a normal part of his family – for a long time, if ever.

Strangely enough, he didn't feel the least bit sad or upset. Just - anxious a little. But he had this strange feeling of destiny – this was what was supposed to happen. His whole life had been building up for this, for what was ahead.

That didn't stop a momentary pang of sorrow when his father hugged him, slightly awkwardly, and told him, "Go for the red and gold. Stick with the lions and watch out for snakes," ruffling his hair the way he usually did Daniel's.

The goodbyes seemed to bring that out in everyone.

Remus's hug was expected, of course, Sirius took him a little by surprise.

Both he and Daniel returned the hugs with more fervor then they would have had the circumstances been different. They knew that this would be the last time things would ever be normal, and that the farewells were for good.

None of the others (with the exception of Lily) realized how permanent those goodbyes would be. Maybe Remus would still talk to him, after he was sorted into Slytherin. But his father and Sirius wouldn't. Not ever again, maybe, if things played out badly, in whatever war was coming.

As for Lily – she was holding up very well, all things considered. She looked a bit teary-eyed, but no one who knew her would think that was anything out of the ordinary when it came to letting the two children whom she had been obsessively protecting since the day they were born leave for school.

…

His parents were helping him and Daniel put their trunks on the train, in an empty compartment towards the back, when Daniel finally spotted Neville, looking slightly lost. He shouted and waved, and Neville quickly hurried over, followed by his mildly displeased looking grandmother.

"What's the matter?" Daniel asked, seeing that Neville looked rather upset.

"Nothing really… I lost Trevor twice on the way here. I don't know how he keeps getting away from me." Neville held up his toad.

Daniel asked "That's toad your uncle gave you for getting into Hogwarts?"

Neville nodded. Harry and Daniel also gotten a pet owl, Hedwig, but she was more of Daniel's pet then Harry's. Not that he didn't like her, exactly, but to him it was just a _bird, _the point of which was to deliver mail.

Harry sighed. "Just make sure he gets on the train – once he's on we'll be able to find again if he gets lost. You don't want to leave him behind in London."

With that, they all got onto they train.

…

As the train pulled out of the station, Harry realized something. He nudged Daniel, who turned to look at him.

_What are we going to tell Neville?_

Daniel was blank for a second.

_How could we forget about him? We __have_ _to tell him. We can trust him._

_We can trust him, yes, I can believe that. But do we really have to tell him? I mean, I want to tell him, but this is supposed to be really, really secret, so we ought to have a real, legitimate reason for telling him. _

"Um, Harry, Daniel?" Neville asked uncertainty.

They both turned to look at him.

"I-I've been meaning to a-ask this for a while, bbut if I'm wrong this is going to sound pretty s-s-stupid," Neville continued, actually stammering for the first time in years.

Daniel nodded encouragingly, while Harry leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, it always se-eems that the two of you, like, um, talk to each wh-when you look at each oth-other like that," his stammer increasing further.

The two of them looked at him, their expressions blank. Neville visibly deflated. "Never mind," he said quickly, "I don't know wh-what I was thinking."

Daniel looked at Harry

_We've really been rather careless around him, haven't we? I mean we try a lot harder to avoid talking to each other like this when mum and dad are around, but we always just assume that Neville won't notice anything. But we both know that he's not stupid, just really shy and a bit clumsy. _

Harry's sarcasm was evident in his reply. _You think? I mean, we're only holding a mental conversation __while__ he's asking us if we hold mental conversations. Wouldn't that be a bit of a give-away? _

Seeing Neville uncertain and confused as he looked back and forth between the two of them, Harry sighed.

"As a matter of fact, yes, we do hold mental conversations between each other when we look at each other like that," Harry glared a little at the end, as if daring Neville to challenge him.

Neville gulped and sat quietly without comment.

Harry turned back to Daniel, asked insistently.

_Not that I disapprove – but why? You're the one who's always on how important secrecy is. And all of a sudden you're for telling him?_

_Because he knows exactly how well we get along and he has no idea about the prophecy. He's not going to know what to think, when we start acting like enemies, and the rest of the houses start hating me for being a Slytherin. But if we tell him – if we tell him everything, the prophecy, and what we're doing… Neville may be horribly clumsy and a bit dim, but he's loyal. _

Daniel frowned. After a moment, his face cleared. _You're right... Neville would keep insisting to everyone within hearing range that we always got along as children. People would eventually start suspecting something underhanded was going on._

_  
More like disbelief from pretty much everyone and lack of support from us would destroy any belief in himself that Neville has… He's our friend. We can't do that to him._

_I'm in full agreement. Now, any ideas on how to explain all this to him? _Daniel raised his eyebrow, in the manner that his brother usually did.

After a bit more mental deliberation, they decided to trust him with everything but the exact wording of the prophecy, which they would pretend not to know, and that they remembered what happened on Halloween.

Neville was still silent. He had been looking back and forth between the two of them while they had stared at each other.

"We have to tell you something," Harry said.

"Something important," Daniel continued, almost unthinkingly, in the pause after Harry's words. They didn't need to practice or even concentrate to be able to talk in sequence,

"Something you can't tell anyone, ever."

"When we were born, there was a prophecy, about me defeating the Dark Lord."

"But there was another part, also. A part about me. We don't know the actual words, but we know that mum and dad think that whatever the prophecy says, it means that I'm going to go dark and betray my brother."

"They didn't tell us that, we overhead them talking. But obviously, I don't believe Harry would ever betray me. But then we decided that maybe the prophecy meant something else."

"Something we were already planning to do. I was expecting to go into Slytherin anyway…"

There was a pause as both Harry and Daniel looked at Neville. He had been listening attentively, and looked bewildered as to why they were pausing. After a moment, Daniel asked, "Do you have a problem with Harry going into Slytherin?"

Neville stared for a moment, "Of course not. Er, I mean, my Grandmother won't be pleased, and I doubt that she'll let me come over the summer, but, um, I don't care, personally. I always sort of thought that you might be in Slytherin. Seeing as it's the house of cunning and all."

Harry grinned, and continued speaking, "So we decided, once we were at Hogwarts, that I would pretend to hate Daniel. That way, I could be friendly with people that hated him and would have a good chance of finding out about any plots to hurt him, and would know what the Death Eater families are up to."

Daniel cut in, "Oh yeah, also, from what mum and dad were saying, it seemed like You-Know-Who was going to be back someday... That's why it's important to be friendly with the Slytherins.

"So, anyway, how this affects you -all you need to do is play along with the idea that we hate each other."

"And _never _tell _anyone _what we told you now."

There was silence for a moment, as everyone contemplated what the affect the events of the past few minutes would have.

Then the door to the compartment slowly slid open...

* * *

**Short chapter... But only two weeks! **

**Does anyone mind the short chapters? Because they really help me keep up enthusiasm for this story. If I keep them short, I think I'll be able to get them out at a steady rate, while longer chapters seem to bog me down. **

**And I feel really bad about the chapter (I think it was 3) where I was extorting everyone for reviews... I didn't mean to make it sound like blackmail - I was trying to see whether there was more enthusiasm about this story or my other one. But still I don't approve of authors holding chapters hostage over reviews, and just because I didn't mean it that way doesn't change it... Now if only I hadn't removed that chapter from Document Manager. (I still want reviews though... I'm just not blackmailing you for them...)**

**Moonlit wave - yeah, I know I said in my review reply that I would update that day... but no amount of good intentions can create a chapter that only wants to come in bits and pieces. And I really was ill. **


	7. Chapter 6: Train Rides and Memories

Chapter 7: Train Rides and Memories

Harry, Daniel and Neville stared at the door as it slowly slid open, tense.

The tension in the carrage dropped significantly when they saw who it was – a tall, redhead boy around their own age.

He paused in the doorway, clearly nervous. Probably because of the way they were all staring at him.

"Er, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." The three of them stared at him – Neville was too nervous to say a word, and Harry and Daniel were to surprised at meeting someone new.

The boy looked like he was about to turn around and leave when Daniel broke the silence.

"Sure you can sit in here."

"I'm Ron," the boy introduced himself as he sat down. He looked back and forth between Harry and Daniel.

"You're twins!" He paused, eyeing them both, "But not identical – my brothers are identical, and you can't tell them apart at all. I dunno – is it just the glasses?"

He looked perplexed as he squinted. Harry figured he was trying to figure out what Daniel would look like without glasses – that was the biggest difference between their appearences. Daniel was entirely blind without his glasses, while Harry had perfect vision. Then there was obviously the scar that made the two of them different, though Daniel's hair was covering that.

"And your hair's a bit different," Ron continued.

That was true as well – Daniel's hair was shorter and messier then Harry's, though the difference was subtle.

Harry found himself both annoyed at this boy – he wasn't sure if his comparing of him and Daniel would be considered rude, but at the very least he ought to have asked their names before starting to talk, or given them a chance to introduce themselves.

Still, Harry realized this was a golden opportunity to begin creating his image. "I'm pretty sure I'd be aware of the differences between myself and my brother… seeing as I've been living with him for several years and all."

He paused intentionally, for effect, as if he were just realizing something. "But now I don't have to anymore – they sort by personality, don't they?"

Almost to himself, he asked, "So then why am I still sitting here?" In response to that, he picked up his trunk and started to the door of the compartment.

As he pulled it open and walked through it, he looked back at the group. Both Daniel and Neville looked surprised on the surface, but underneath that he could see their understanding. They knew what he was playing at.

Ron, on the other hand, looked entirely bewildred, uncertain what he had done to provoke such a sudden reaction.

Feeling satisfied, Harry pulled the door shut behind him, hoping that his brother would be able to handle himself, as he went in search of his own destiny.

He wandered down the corridor, glancing inside the open compartments – all of them held children clearly older then him.

The corridor wasn't packed, but he still felt overwhelmed by the people. Before he had barely noticed how crowded it was – but before he had been with his brother.

He didn't understand why he felt so alone, so uncertain when he couldn't glance sideways and see a face he knew better than his own – at home, they had a fair amount of time apart from each other. But then again, home was familiar. Every new thing that they had ever done, though, was together.

He wondered if he was insane, to plan such a drastic decision knowing nothing. He wanted to be mad at his mother again, for crippling him in this way, leaving him knowing enough magic to beat children years well above him in age but not knowing anything else about the world.

Still, he remembered their conversation.

_He had been planning this conversation for a while, waiting until his father was out of the house. He walked into his mum's room quietly – she was sitting on the bed, looking at pictures. She looked up sharply as she heard him approach. _

_There was an expression on her face that Harry couldn't decipher. Unexpectedly, she asked, "Come here, Harry. Give your mother a hug." _

_Harry complied. She was still holding him when he said, "Mum, I need to talk to you about something."_

_She loosened her grip on him a little, shifting her hold so that he could see her face. _

"_Anything you want to talk to me about, I'm listening." _

_He couldn't find the right words – finally, he blurted out, "It's about the prophecy, the one about me and Daniel, and You-Know-Who."_

_Lilly stilled, not looking at Harry but staring at the wall. There was silence._

"_Who said anything about that?"she asked, finally looking at him again._

"_A long time ago – Dumbledore sent a letter and you and dad were arguing about it?" He sounded uncertain, though he remembered the conversation as if it were yesterday. The pretense of not having a perfect memory came naturally, unthinkingly._

_  
_A girl bumped into him, he flinched back and tripped, earning him an odd stare. He shook his head to clear it. He ought to be paying attention, not dwelling on memories – it's not as if though they would fade in time.

Finally, after wandering for what felt like half the train, he spotted a boy about his height, with dark brown hair. He approached them, but before he could make up his mind as to what to ask, the boy turned around and noticed him.

He looked him over – "First year here?"

Harry nodded, swallowing. The boy continued to examine him.

"Surname?" he asked, taking Harry by surprise.

He stared at the boy for a moment – what did his surname matter?

The answer hit him all of a sudden, with a surge of satisfaction – he had found a Slytherin, which was what he had set out to do. Apparently they really _did_ care whether someone had pure blood or not. Bizarre… but still, he was supposed to befriend them and so he would.

"Potter," he answered as he reached that conclusion.

"Daniel Potter – "the-boy-who-lived"? Sure you are…" the boy snorted. "I you don't want to say, you don't have to – you don't look muggleborn, seeing as that you're wearing robes already, and you wouldn't know about Potter, either, if you were muggleborn. So if you're looking for a place to sit, you can come with me. I'm Nott, by the way, Theodore Nott."

Harry followed the Theodore with a little uncertainty, trying to decide whether he ought to correct the boy's assumption that he hadn't been serious when he said he was a Potter.

Theodore opened the door into one of the compartments. A girl was lying on one of the seats. She sat up as they entered.

"Theo – did you find the lunch trolley?"

"I don't think it's out yet – I did find another firstie though, and he looked rather lost, so brought him along."

The girl looked at Harry – "Surname?"

Harry tried not to sigh, "Potter."

Unlike Theodore, the girl didn't immediately reject the possibility. Instead she leaned forward and tilted her head. "You know what, you just might be. I've never seen a picture of you, with all the security around you, and you not leaving the manor, and whatnot, but I've seen your father, and you look rather like him."

She considered him for another moment, before asking shrewdly, "If you're Daniel, where is your scar?"

He frowned. "I'm not Daniel – I'm Harry. Doesn't anyone know that Daniel has a twin brother?"

They both look surprised by that piece of information. Theodore spoke first. "I remember hearing something about that…"

The girl nodded in agreement. "So why aren't you with your brother then?"

Harry folded his arms, irritated. He had never been jealous of his brother before, he still wasn't, but he didn't think he was going to like it very much if this happened every time he introduced himself.

He snapped back, "Maybe because people will realize I _exist_ if I'm not sitting right next to him."

Instead of getting annoyed at him, she smiled and clapped her hands together.

"A true Slytherin in the making there, don't you think?" she asked, looking at Theodore.

A slow smile spread across Theodore's face as he looked at Harry.

Harry thought he understood what they were thinking – he could be very useful in terms of a connection to his brother, and if had been feeling inferior or resentful, as he had implied, then that would make it more likely that he would become a Slytherin. Still, he felt it would be wiser not to voice that opinion and pretend he was confused – being confused was a good way to get information. At least it always worked on his parents.

He frowned slightly. "Was I supposed to understand what you mean by that?"

The girl giggled. "You'll get it eventually. I still haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Pansy Parkinson."

…

**Sorry! I know it's been forever, and it's not even long... You'll get another chapter soon, barring unexpected events that result in me not having my computer with all the work in it. **


	8. Chapter 7: Author's Note

Authors Note: Transferring Ownership

I recently have received a request from WisConSin-BloNd to take over this story.

Given that I haven't updated either or my stories in a long time, and if I were planning to continue one, it would be Mirror Image (which I'm going to try and work on), I think that it's probably best if I allow her to take over.

.net/u/1821989/ (I can't get the full URL in)

Here is a link to her profile (put in fanfiction before the .net), I'll put up a link to her redone version of the story in this update, whenever she happens to put it up.


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